Simple Book-keeping

1. What Do You Need?

You have to record all the money coming into your business and all the money going out, both to keep track of your cashflow and for your tax records. To do this you will need:

1.1 A record of every sale.

• Cash businesses, such as shops, will use till rolls and point-of-sale systems to record sales.
• Non-cash businesses should issue an invoice for every sale. Keep them in two files: Sales Paid and Sales Unpaid.

1.2 Invoices or receipts for every purchase.

• Keep two files: Purchases Paid and Purchases Unpaid.

1.3 Records of payments into and out of your bank account.

• Open a separate business bank account.
• Ask for monthly bank statements.

1.4 Records of payments made by cash.

• Keep receipts for cash purchases in a box file labelled Petty Cash.

1.5 A Cash Book for summarising the information. Cash Books come in hard copy and electronic forms.

• You can buy an analysis book (a book with several columns on each page) from a business stationer. This can be used as a hard-copy Cash Book.
• If you have accounting computer software, it will perform the same functions as a Cash Book.